1827.] Science of I he liritixh Navy. (517 



to the service. Many of these evils have taken place ; but we now expect 

 happy alterations in this respect. 



The sudden discharge of the seamen at the conclusion of the war, and 

 then forcibly seizing them again at the commencement of hostilities, with 

 the most brutal violation of justice in both cases, are the prominent evils 

 that require to be remedied ; and we are glad to hear that arrangements 

 are spoken of for that purpose. 



Commissions in the navy, unlike those in the army, are not to be pur- 

 chased ; nor are advancements in rank conferred in the navy otherwise 

 than by seniority, after the post of captain. If a man attain to the rank 

 of captain, if he live long enough he must be an admiral. Now all this 

 we believe is good to a certain degree; but, perhaps, it may want some 

 alteration. It is very different in foreign nations ; but we think our own 

 plan better than theirs, and it ought not to be deviated from without the 

 strictest scrutiny and the best information. Lord Howe's omission of 

 promoting captains to the rank of admiral in their turn, produced much 

 dissatisfaction ; and it is very questionable whether it can be done with 

 propriety. 



2. The materiel of our navy next comes under our notice : of which 

 we shall first consider the number and size of the ships. By the last par- 

 liamentary papers, the navy consists of 113 ships of the line ; 2.12 frigates, 

 including the sixth-rates; and 134 gun-brigs, cutters, dock-yard craft, 

 transports, &c. ; making a total of 502. The abstract of the royal navy 

 in 1805, in Derrick's Memoirs of it, p. 223, shews that it then consisted 

 of 175 ships of the line; 246 frigates, including sixth-rates ; 528 gun- 

 brigs, cutters, &c. ; thus making a total of 949 vessels. We, therefore, 

 perceive that there are at present sixty-two ships of the line fewer than in 

 J 805, an increase in the frigates of six, and a diminution in the gun-brigs, 

 &c. of 394 : thus making a total decrease of 440 ships. We are aware 

 that the size of ships has increased since 1805; but, at all events, the 

 difference of sixty-two ships of the line is a serious one. 



This decrease of the navy is the more to be regarded, on account of the 

 augmentation of the French and American navies. Xhe last budget of 

 the French minister presents a sum of about eight millions sterling, devoted 

 to the service of the royal navy, for the present year, which is equivalent 

 iij its eflfeets to twelve millions in this country : our own navy has, not 

 above one-third of this amount dedicated to its support, if we omit the 

 disproportionate appropriations to the half-pay and pension list. The 

 United States have also a navy of rapid growth : their force cannot be 

 estimated at less than thirty ships of the line, of the ordinary force as 

 their frigates are of equal force to small line-of-battle ships : their two- 

 deckers carry a hundred guns of the largest calibre, and exceed our largest 

 ships in dimensions. 



If the reader should wish a more particular account of our navy, we 

 must refer him to foreign authors ; for, unaccountably as it may appear, 

 so little are the nautical sciences cultivated in this country, that we have 

 scarcely a respectable work on the British navy. Dupin's " Force Navale 

 de la Grande Bretagne " details all the particulars of our navy ; but of 

 this we shall speak more at large in our third hea4- 



In 1780 the French nation had 125 sail of the line, of which Charnock 

 gives the names of 105 that were known to be at sea, or otherwise 

 employed in the war. The Spaniards had, at the same time, seventy-five 



M.M. New Scries. VOL. III. No. 18. 4 K 



